Annotated chess game: Another tight game!

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ANNOTATED GAME

Another tight game!
akjoltoy (2685) vs. cyrano (2610)
Annotated by: jotheblackqueen (1200)
Chess opening: English opening (A16)

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1. c4	Hi again everyone, It is time for round two. In the red corner is our WTW&LR Champion, GM Cyrano. In the blue corner is the Gameknot Champion akjoltoy who starts off with an English Opening. 1. c4.



1... Nf6 2. Nc3	2. Nc3 - one pair of knights is developed.



2... g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4	4. d4 - in response to Afro's hypermodern style of defense (putting pawns on g6 and d6 and preparing to fianchetto his KB at g7), The Champ puts up an impressive pawn wall on d4,d4 and c4. Will Afro be cramped for style? We shall see.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: From an English Opening, the game has transposed into a King's Indian Defence. White aims for a big centre, and probably Q-side operations. Black seeks to undermine that centre or develop a King side attack.


4... Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5	6. ..... e5 - After fianchettoing his bishop and then castling kingside he now tries to puncture the pawn wall with e5.
	2 comments cplusplus11 (1704) on 06-Jun-15: book archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Black seeks to induce a move from White's d-pawn: a direct advance to d5, or and exchange on e5.


7. O-O	7. 0-0 - The Champ eschews dxe5 and also brings his king to safety.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: More likely from White is the d5 advance. But, unconcerned about the possibility of ...exd4, which would compromise Black's hold upon the d4-square, White continues with his development before turning his attention to the d-pawn.


7... Nc6 8. d5 Ne7	8. .... Ne7 - starting to get a little bit like a jstevens1 midgame position (cramped for style) but can Afro find a way round this and prevent passivitis seeping in? We shall see.
	2 comments cplusplus11 (1704) on 06-Jun-15: book archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Still book. This line was very much explored during the 1961 Tournament at Bled. It led to some very exciting and combative chess.


9. Ne1	9. Ne1 - interesting retreat - preparing an eventual f4 perhaps.
	1 comment cplusplus11 (1704) on 07-Jun-15: I believe this is still in the opening book. Jkarp - this is still book. The purpose of this move is to allow the f pawn to come to f3 when black breaks with ...f4. Additional it prevents ...Nh5 and allows Nd3 supporting the c5 break.


9... Nd7 10. Be3 f5	10. ...... f5 - but it is Afro who suddenly finds a way to break out. If exf5 then Afro's previous move (Ne7) enables Afro to recapture the pawn with a knight and not weaken his castling position to avoid being a pawn down.
	2 comments cplusplus11 (1704) on 07-Jun-15: White should not break on the kingside. If he does, he is playing on the wrong side of the board. archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: This ...f5 break is thematic to the ...e5 lines of the King's Indian Defence. Black is aiming for K-side attack, White for the Q-side. The sort of break White usually plans uis the Q-sde equivalent of what you are seeing here: b4 and c5, striking at d6.


11. f3 f4	11. ...... f4 - now Afro tries to drive back The Champ's dsb.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Rather than exchange on e4, Black prefers to drive a wedge into White's position. This has a tendency to channel the attack, but also the defence. Something of the sort was my aim in my recent game against dynamic-dv, only I made a horrible short-range blunder early on.


12. Bf2 g5 13. Rc1 Ng6 14. Nb5	14. Nb5 - pressure on c7.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: This looks to be aimed more at a7. It looks as though White wants to induce a light square weakness on Black's Q-side.


14... b6 15. b4 a6 16. Nc3 Rf7	16. ..... Rf7 - The Champ's knight has been driven back and Afro is now able to develop his lsb onto b7 and clear the back row decks. Over the next few moves Afro appears to weaken his castled position by moving pawns up the board but on the other hand he does bring his pieces over to defend his king from a white counter-attack.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Black is planning a pawn storm on the K-side. He has to hope that such an attack is quicker than the rate at which his Q-side crumbles.


17. Nd3 h5 18. c5 Bf8 19. Kh1 Rg7 20. cxb6 cxb6	20. ..... cxb6 - an opening of the c column.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Far from unique, Joe! This is how a King's Indian Defence is supposed to go! Black is at present juggling his Q-side defence with K-side attack. White, on the other hand, for the moment trust his K-side is for the moment safe enough, and concentrates on making further inroads on the other wing. This sort of thing can hang by a hair...


21. Nb2 Rb8 22. Nc4 Nf6	22. .... Nf6 - continuing to move pieces over to the kingside and over-protecting d6.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Black does have to prop up d6 for as long as possible until he can get close enough to the White King that it doesn't matter any more. The problem for Black is how to get past the deep entrenchment along the d1-h5 diagonal.


23. Qa4 g4 24. Nxb6 g3	24. ..... g3 - Afro cannot recapture on b6 but he does have a way out and that is to deflect The Champ's dsb off the f1-a7 diagonal so that the recapture is possible.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Driving the wedge right down to the third rank. Again, this has a channelling effect. It won't be easy for White bring is defensive resources, but Black has the same problem in attack. However, it does crystallise out Black's task into its simplest terms.


25. Nxc8 gxf2 26. Bxa6 Ng4	26. .... Ng4 - allo, allo, allo, a knight sac after being two pawns down, whatever is going on here?
	2 comments cplusplus11 (1704) on 06-Jun-15: This must be a position where the player down material must attack. archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: Black's Q-side has been blasted almost out of existence, but Black's attack is almost within reach of the White King.


27. fxg4 hxg4 28. Rxf2 Rh7 29. g3	29. g3 - after being 5 material points up, The Champ offers Afro a draw! Afro accepts. Afro can get one material point back by playing fxg3 forking rook and pawn on h2 (which is pinned) and he can also bring his queen to h4 and suddenly Old Matey hangs over the champ so he may need to bring his pieces back and defend against it so it is High Draw honours to Afro - well played there!
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 09-Jun-15: A likely continuation seems to be 29...fxg3 30.Rg2 Rxh2ch 31.Rxh2 gxh2 32.Kxh2!? Qh4ch 33.Kg2 Nf4ch and a perpetual looks to be on the cards, one way or another. This game goes to show the knife-edge between Black's direct K-side attack and White's counter-operations on the other wing. If you can find them, I recommend that you look up Gligoric-Fischer and Tal-Gligoric from the Bled Tournament of 1961. These games vary from this one at move 10, but they are similar in shape, in drama, ... and in outcome. i may annotate them myself...